


forever now

by BarbAndCo



Series: in this life, in the next [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventures in the Spirit World, Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, i mean yeah they only get good things in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29255790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarbAndCo/pseuds/BarbAndCo
Summary: Zuko and Jet get to live their happily ever after in the afterlife.
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: in this life, in the next [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148294
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	forever now

**Author's Note:**

> im back at it again

Lord Zuko dies, like the way he lived, surrounded by people who love him.

He closes his eyes; he hears his daughter sob, but he knows he’s not got the strength to console her anymore. _She’s strong_ , he thinks.

As he loses consciousness, he waits for the burning of his worn soul to flare. It has been a long lifetime of flames. But he welcomes the pain every single time.

Finally, the darkness overcomes him, but the fire does not burn.

**_\- The Prince meets the Rebel -_ **

****

Light is shines over Zuko’s unopened eyes as he wakes up under a tree.

“You took your time,” a voice, achingly familiar yet so new, says above him. Zuko opens his eyes and it’s like he’s been reborn.

Jet is impish, lips in a perpetual smirk, eyes twinkling and very much alive.

“I got here as fast as I could,” he manages to say. All the words Zuko has been meaning to say dies on his tongue. He’s lost, oh how he is lost, in deep brown eyes.

_I’ve missed you._

_I’ve thought about you every day._

_I love you._

_I don’t even know you._

_You’re here._

Jet smiles like he can read his thoughts and perhaps he can. He doesn’t mind. The rebel extends his hand, and the prince takes it without second thought.

“Zuko.”

“Jet.”

They have forever now.

**_\- The Bright-eyed Boy and the Prince -_ **

In this forever, they can be anyone.

Sometimes they are children.

A young boy with an unruly mop of brown hair and bright eyes that’s never seen his village burned to the ground. He sports a smile that’s carefree and wild as he chases another young boy with black hair tied neatly in a bun. This one’s golden eyes, sparkling with mirth, have never been touched by unbridled cruelty of an uncaring world.

They run through a field that’s both foreign and familiar. The bright-eyed boy catches up to the prince and they tumble down to the ground. Cheerful squeals echo into the sky.

They are the children the world never let them be.

This is what happiness is.

**_\- The Lord and the Leader -_ **

As time unravels in front of them in an endless sea, they choose to be something more wizened.

Sometimes they are old men.

Lord Zuko’s hair has gone white as it did during his final years. Jet’s hair is peppered with white and grays, something destiny never gave him a chance to have.

They sit on chairs watching an eternal sunset in comfortable silence. The sun dropping ever so slowly into the horizon, the skies turn colors they’ve never seen before.

Their hands are wrinkled and rough. They hold each other tightly still.

They grow old here but never die.

This is peace.

**_\- The Blue Spirit and the Rebel -_**

They go back to the beginning and rewrite the tired words. The dawn is breaking. There is no need to write the saddest lines.

Sometimes they are teenagers.

Here is the boy with the scar hurt by those he loves and here is the boy with a heart brimming with hurt. And here is eternity at their feet to make right the mistakes of the past. To relive the heartache and soothe the pain.

Jet jumps from building to building his swords are drawn and the Blue Spirit follows him because Zuko will never lose sight of his rebel again.

They are on a ship sneaking around stealing food. They are in the slums of a city filled with cold, dark secrets but the only thing they care about is the warmth of the other one’s presence.

They stand in the unlit plaza of the Lower Rings. Zuko shoots fire out of his hands and instead of terror Jet looks on with wonder. The fire does not burn—it is light.

Jet holds Zuko’s hands, a firebender’s hands, and it fits perfectly in his. He doesn’t need to be afraid anymore.

This is freedom.

**_\- The Fire Lord and the Freedom Fighter -_**

The afterlife lets them relive and truly live. There is always a difference.

Sometimes they are middle aged men.

No longer clouded by youthful naïveté but eyes still looking at the hopeful horizon.

Zuko stands in his ceremonial robes, crown heavy on his head. Beside him is Jet, tall, stubble on his jaw, wearing armor. In the Spirit world, Jet grows to be a handsome man. Gone is the lankiness of youth and replaced with years’ worth of battle and experience.

They’re watching a play about a man who was cursed into a beast until he learned the true meaning of love. He’s felt like a beast for so long then he meets a kindhearted soul who sets his world alight.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Zuko whispers.

“Me too,” Jet replies.

They hold hands still.

This is fun.

**_\- The Fire Lord, Freedom Fighter, and the Lost -_**

The Spirit world contains multitudes and has endless surprises.

The Fire Lord and the Freedom Fighter are in a village. It’s already night out. Paper lanterns hang across the sky some shaped like stars. Jet says he’s been here before long ago… he realizes it is home.

Jet sprints across the village to a small house and Zuko is beside him every step of the way.

As soon as the door opens, Jet knows what he would find. Sitting at the table, he sees his mother and father. They look back at him and their little family is whole once more.

Zuko finds out that Jet gets his looks from his father but his personality from his mother. He sees the people that made Jet who he is, was, and will be.

The small home is suddenly filled with people, his other family, his Freedom Fighters. Jet is swept up in it all. Zuko is in the middle, lost but not unmoored.

Jet is finally home.

**_\- The Fire Lord, Freedom Fighter, and the Lost -_**

Zuko and Jet find her in a pocket of the afterlife. She lives in a theater. Zuko’s mother sits in a room, her tea warm, and the walls decorated with masks. She looks up as soon as they come through the doors.

“Mom,” Zuko chokes out. Jet squeezes his hand.

Ursa smiles at her boy through eyes filled with tears.

“I’ve missed you,” she says.

They stay and chat in what feels like its own little forever. His mother loves Jet, as any mother would their child’s other half.

They find Iroh and Lu Ten somewhere in a garden having tea with other spirits. Zuko introduces Jet and they sip their drinks and talk. It feels like an eternity has passed and also no time at all.

In the afterlife with his mother, his uncle, his cousin, and the other half of his soul, Zuko is as he lived, as he died, as he lives again, surrounded by people who love him.

Zuko has never felt so alive.

  
**_\- The Fire Lord and the Freedom Fighter -_**

Another eternity passes and under the tree, Zuko greets his daughter with open arms and introduces her to a man she feels like she’s known all her life.

In the lifetimes they’ve lived, they’ve created so many versions of family and as forever stretches on they’ll create more and more.

“I love you,” Jet tells him in the twilight.

“I love you too,” Zuko says back as they are plunged into darkness and starlight.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! hope you liked it


End file.
